UA’s graduates range in age from 19 to 74 years old this semester.
Jennifer Faulkner, a 19-year-old piano performance senior, was home schooled and traveled with her family as a child. She began taking classes at Pima Community College at age 13.
“”I kept getting As, so they kept letting me take classes,”” she said.
She received her associate’s degree at 15 and then began attending classes at the UA in the fall of 2003.
At times, Faulkner said, she found it difficult not having many things in common with her classmates, but she has made friends at the UA and
enjoyed her studies.
Faulkner said she plans to take a year or two to travel, teach piano and work on her hobbies, including skiing and ballroom dancing. She said she hopes to attend a music school on the East Coast in the future.
Bonnie Holt is one of the UA’s two 74-year-old students and the eldest to graduate this semester. (The other 74-year-old, Gerald Manderscheid, an anthropology senior, could not be reached for comment.)
Holt, a creative writing senior, began studying at the UA in the fall of 2004 so she could learn how to write books about her experiences.
Holt was active during the Civil Rights Movement, has worked as a script reader and writer for films, and affected anti-discrimination legislation in New Jersey and New Mexico.
“”In all my travels and all my work, I’ve met people who can benefit from what I have experienced,”” Holt said.
She has faced heart problems and vision loss during her time at the UA, but she wants others to know that it hasn’t stopped her from accomplishing her goals.
“”Just because you reach a certain age doesn’t mean you have
to begin to slow down,”” she said.
She hopes to continue her studies at the UA,
Just because you reach a certain age doesn’t mean you have to begin to slow down.
– Bonnie Holt,
eldest graduate this semester
pursuing a master’s degree in English or American Indian studies.
Colin Malchow, 22, is the UA’s youngest graduate student to finish his master’s degree this semester.
AP credits and summer class credit helped him complete his bachelor’s degree in accounting in three years.
This year Malchow completed his master’s in accounting, and this fall he plans to work for Ernst and Young, an auditing and consulting firm in Phoenix.
On the other end of the spectrum, Catharine “”Kitty”” Reeve, 66, is the UA’s oldest graduate student
graduating this semester.
Reeve, an English graduate student, had worked as a self-employed writer, professional photographer and writing and marketing consultant
until 2002 when she was asked to teach writing in
China.
Reeve said she “”absolutely fell in love with teaching”” and continued teaching at Pima Community College. She found her students came from much more diverse backgrounds that she had
experienced.
When she enrolled as an undergraduate at the UA in fall 2005, she said she wanted to learn more about the literature of other cultures.
“”I also wanted to learn something about the teaching of writing,”” Reeve said. “”I feel I’m a much more compassionate teacher now.””
Reeve said she will use a lot of what she’s learned at the UA, especially from American Indian Studies professor Luci Tapahonso, in her own teaching.
“”She really wanted you to know that what you read has relevance to your life,”” Reeve said of
Tapahonso.
Although she is “”decades older”” than her fellow graduate students and was at times confused as a professor, Reeve said she has found her studies to be “”very stimulating”” and a better alternative to
retirement.
She plans to continue teaching, consulting and fundraising and directing “”Desert Living is Different,”” a writing project for K-12 students.
